The Life You Left Behind Quotes

“Suicide isn’t an act of selfishness. It comes from desperation and illness, an inability to see any solutions. But it isn’t the answer.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“The stuff that happens to us all. I guess you either fight it – or you go with it. When it comes to things we can’t do anything about, there’s no point stressing about them. After all, there’s only one certainty in this life.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Yeah. You can’t count on anything staying the same.’ He changes the subject. ‘Anyway, I just wanted to check you’re OK – when you’re not having a moment, that is.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“because love should mean being honest with each other.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“There’s a Toltec word – mitote. Means fog in the mind.’ ‘What?’ I frown at him. ‘It comes from all the stories we tell ourselves – like about the person we think we should be. You know, like when you’re a kid, it matters what your parents think of you; then as you get older, it’s your friends who matter, then society, until before you know it, you have this life designed purely to fit with everyone else’s expectations, which kind of works – except we lose track of who we really are, underneath. You have to get rid of all that. It fogs your mind. Stops you seeing clearly.’ I stare at him, because it’s exactly how it is. ‘You’re right.’ ‘It’s still there, Cassidy – the old you. Just swamped – by life and stuff that’s happened to you. I don’t know… A bit like a dragonfly larva at the bottom of a murky pond, if you can leave those muddy depths behind and burst through the surface, you’ll be free.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“This pain you hold on to… maybe it’s time to let it go. You have the whole of the rest of your life, Casey Cassidy. Just imagine if you could do something amazing with it.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“But not really my thing.’ ‘So what is your thing?’ He sounded amused. ‘If you really want to know…’ I wondered how I was telling him all this. ‘It’s music, cooking, dancing – preferably barefoot, under a night sky, somewhere hot… Bars that are buzzing with life, drinking wine with friends… And cats – I love cats. But mostly it’s about hanging out with the people I love.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind

“There’s a Toltec word – mitote. Means fog in the mind.’ ‘What?’ I frown at him. ‘It comes from all the stories we tell ourselves – like about the person we think we should be. You know, like when you’re a kid, it matters what your parents think of you; then as you get older, it’s your friends who matter, then society, until before you know it, you have this life designed purely to fit with everyone else’s expectations, which kind of works – except we lose track of who we really are, underneath. You have to get rid of all that. It fogs your mind. Stops you seeing clearly.”
― Debbie Howells, The Life You Left Behind